


A thousand winds that blow

by Inkn1ght1



Category: Baahubali (Movies)
Genre: Afterlife fic, Gen, I dont know how to tag, mahendra always had Sivagami with him, so did devasena
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-30 14:06:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17225456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkn1ght1/pseuds/Inkn1ght1
Summary: Her breath was failing. She couldn't feel anything anymore. She couldn't see or hear anything. She was tired, but Rajmata Sivagami Devi of Mahishmati never failed her duty.





	A thousand winds that blow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AllegoriesInMediasRes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllegoriesInMediasRes/gifts).



 

Her breath was failing. Sivagami couldn't feel her fingers or toes anymore. But she couldn't let herself fall. The waters of the waterfalls were treacherous. But she would not fall.

She couldn't feel anything anymore. Her body was dying, the pain that she felt earlier was gone. Her lungs were filling with water. she could not even choke anymore. the rumble of waterfall was a distant memory. But still she could hear the tired cries of Mahendra. And she still had hope. She would not fail Devasena.

She couldn't see or hear anything. She didn't hear the noises the villagers made or how someone took the babe from her arms. All she had left in her was to surrender to the jeevanadhi and accept the punishment from the heavens. But the Rajmata would not surrender, she could not leave the babe to the mercy of fate. Sivagami  was tired , but Rajmata Sivagami Devi of Mahishmati never failed her duty.

*****************************************

"Shivu used to cry a lot when young," Sangha recalled for Devasena.

 

The two mothers were sitting on the balcony and watching Mahendra get ready for the coronation . 

 

Devasena smiled. Hearing Sangha talk about her Mahendra as Shivu felt bittersweet to her. 

"All the villagers used to take turns holding him through day and night, so he would stop crying so hard and sleep." Sangha sighed and smiled at her son.

Even Devasena knew that was too much. " Really ?"

"Oh yes.!"  Sangha said, " But sometimes when we put him down, he would turn towards the sound of the waterfalls and sleep by himself ."

 

_The wind that was once a woman moved. She used to sing him the same songs she sang for her own two sons._ The  brightly lit brazier flame wavered. 

Devasena turned and saw nothing.

"That was how it started, his obsession with the waterfall. He used to sit for hours on the rocks as if listening to something." Sangha continued.

The wind used to tell him stories about their Kingdom, the stories the adult forgot.

"I tried so many things to turn him away from the water, but he wouldn't listen. I was afraid that whatever tried to hurt him before might still be there."

Devasena saw Mahendra help the soldiers erect a pillar to hold the spectators gallery . 

 

"He is quite determined." She said.

"Hmm" Sangha snorted," You don't know the half of that."

 

Devasena turned to her in question.

"Once there was a merchant caravan that came through. They had all these knick knack things along with essentials. There was this _kada_ , a heavy golden bangle in one of the shops. It looked very intricate and expensive, but for the tarnished grey colour of it. Shivu saw it and wanted it. He was  perhaps 19 at the time. Nothing we did or said would dissuade him. He pestered the shopkeeper into selling it. Kept telling him, it belonged to me, and that I had lost it. The shopkeeper quoted a price of 20 coins, too much for the bangle anyway. We wouldn't let him buy.  Shivu bargained with the man for days, and finally got it for 10 coins, all he had saved from working with the wood cutters and carpenters . He also had to carry the shop keeper's shop and take care of his horses for the rest of the week. All for this."

 

Sangha extended her arm and showed Devasena the bangle. 

Devasena smiled  indulgently and took the offered arm and froze. 

The bangle had lost its luster and colour, seemed darker, but she recognised the bangle. This had adorned her mother-in-law's arm when she had held Mahendra out to the people and declared him King. 

"Rajmata." Devasena whispered and the flames rose high in the braziers. 

Sangha stared at her own arm. 

_ The  ghostly wind that had flown through Mahishmati and the village on the river, for the past twenty five years screamed through the palace .  _

Devasena had felt that presence before.  Everytime Bhallaladeva came to see her and left with scathing comments, everytime Bhadra raised his arms at Devasena, Everytime Kattappa begged her to let him help her, all those times the wind had howled, the braziers had flames dancing . 

*************

The next day Devasena crowned Mahendra Baahubali, a coronation twenty five years in the making.

And when the new King took oath in the name of Rajmata Sivagami Devi, the wind that had howled through Mahishmati, finally dissipated . 

Rajmata Sivagami Devi was at peace.

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from the poem "Do not stand at my grave and weep" by Mary Elizabeth Frye
> 
> Do not stand at my grave and weep,  
> I am not there; I do not sleep.  
> I am a thousand winds that blow,  
> I am the diamond glints on snow,  
> I am the sun on ripened grain,  
> I am the gentle autumn rain.  
> When you awaken in the morning’s hush  
> I am the swift uplifting rush  
> Of quiet birds in circling flight.  
> I am the soft star-shine at night.  
> Do not stand at my grave and cry,  
> I am not there; I did not die.


End file.
